Don't Miss a Beet

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Stewart Lindsay, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Campbell Soup Company. They explore Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) trends, from consumer interest in the sustainability of food and agriculture, to the availability of technology to measure and monitor value chains, to the development of environmental markets...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Chris Hetherington, founder, chairman and CEO of Peels, a health and wellness company that markets CBD products from orange peels. Chris describes his career path from NFL player and hedge fund managing director to startup founder with a mission to make the holistic benefits of CBD available to more people. He discusses the company’s strategic choice ...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, and colleague Stephen Ravin, a partner in the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice, speak with Spencer Ware, Managing Director and Retail Practice Leader of national business advisory firm Riveron. They consider the challenges facing the food and beverage industry in the post-COVID world, from labor shortages and turnover to the effects of inflation on th...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Brian Berger, principal and founding partner of JBH Advisory Group, which provides a variety of advisory services to stakeholders involved in scalable food service throughout the hospitality industry. They discuss the challenge of trying to maintain consistency in an industry where the product experience can never be the same twice, and how tools such...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with colleague Jennifer Beidel, co-chair of the firm’s White Collar and Government Enforcement Practice and a former federal prosecutor, about internal investigations. Jen and Jonathan discuss that, given the heavily regulated nature of the food, beverage, and agribusiness industries, internal investigations regarding potential regulatory violations are co...

In this episode, host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, and colleague Casey Grabenstein, a partner in the firm’s Litigation Practice, speak with Mark Haraburda, CEO of Barchart, a leading provider of commodities and exchange data. They discuss how the digital age has not only impacted boards of trade going from the open-outcry days of traders shouting and giving hand signals on the trading floor to a two-way electronic tr...

In this episode, host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with colleague Sandy Bilus, co-chair of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice, about how cyber criminals are targeting agribusiness and food companies and the ways these companies are vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, such as ransomware attacks that significantly disrupt operations. They discuss three key steps that companies should be taking right ...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Cannabis Law Practice and of the firm’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Ken VandeVrede, CEO of Hillview, a New Jersey-based cannabis company that has developed a portfolio of ethical, forward-thinking cannabis brands, including fast-growing hemp-infused seltzer product Kaló. Ken talks about his family’s commercial agricultural background that led him to first get involved in the can...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Paul Schiefer, senior director of sustainability at Amy’s Kitchen, which started in a home kitchen in Santa Rosa, California and now serves millions of consumers globally with organic ready-made canned and frozen meals. Paul discusses with Jonathan how Amy’s Kitchen last year became a Certified B Corporation®, a designation which means that the compan...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with colleague Justin Danilewitz, a litigator in the Firm’s White Collar and Government Enforcement Practice and a former federal prosecutor, about the Responsible Corporate Officer (RCO) doctrine, also known as the Park doctrine, and how it impacts the FBA industry. Justin addresses how under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), the RCO doctrin...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Tony Pavel, Senior Food Lawyer and Global Food Law Team Leader at Cargill, a global food, agricultural, financial and industrial products company. These former colleagues discuss how food law has grown more complicated over the years, particularly in relation to FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), traceability, the increasing globalization of ...

Host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Anthony Sepich, CEO of Firm client Pipeline Foods, a supplier of organic and non-GMO food and feed ingredients for the consumer packaged goods and livestock industries. They discuss Anthony’s long career in the food industry and how trends have changed over the past several decades, particularly with organic food and clean labels. Anthony addresses how consumer demand for...

In this episode, host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with fellow FBA Practice co-chair, Jonathan Havens, on the portfolios of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Jonathan also explains how both federal agencies have relaxed some rules for FBA companies during the pandemic and implemented some business-minded solutions. For example, the USDA has helped the ag...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with the Firm’s Labor and Employment Practice vice-chair Dena Calo and Carrie Leishman, president and CEO of the Delaware Restaurant Association, about how the restaurant industry has managed throughout the pandemic and the potential road ahead. They discuss how the industry is fighting hard to adopt new practices with more delivery, takeout and outdoor di...

Host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Barry Chatz, a partner in the Firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice, on a variety of financial issues and restructuring and bankruptcy tools and considerations for FBA companies, including how many have shortened their periods of cashflow analysis from quarterly to weekly or daily to determine if they can survive. Barry explained how certain federal laws, such as t...

In this episode, host Jonathan Havens speaks with Kermit Nash, both of whom are co-chairs of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, about how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the production and distribution of food and beverage products—from dairy farms having to dump milk that would spoil before it reached its destination to disruptions with food supply going to schools, conventions and restaurants. Kermit addresses some positive impacts on the in...